Reach for the Stars
by Aozora-chan
Summary: Sora's been ignored by everyone. But when a series of events come, they may help him reach back to reality or may finally crush his heart and become heartbroken forever.
1. When I was a Nobody

**Author's Note:** This story just came to me while I was reading my book. I've never written an angst story, but I've decided to try one to see how good I'm with them. I like trying new things out. Anyway, this may be the only chapter that is a P.O.V., or maybe not. It just depends how this story goes. 

**Summary:** Sora was never happy. He always looked down to negative things. But when Sora moved and sophomore grade came, a girl came and talked to him. The first to ever say a friendly hello. The one called Kairi. But when a series of events come, they may help him reach back to reality and into the stars, or may finally crush his heart and become heartbroken forever.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything in Disney or Square-Enix.

**Reach for the Stars**

**Prologue:  
****When I was a Nobody**

**------------------------------**

**When I was born, I was a somebody. When I was one year old, I was a nobody.**

**My parents ignored me. Everyone ignored me. I had no one. I was no one…**

**-**

I was a quiet boy. I obeyed all my parents' orders. I never had a friend. And I never had someone who loved me. My life was down. Not even close to average. And if it wasn't close to average, it would never be to the top. It was negative. Literally negative. I don't know if anyone could have a lonelier life than me.

Just because I was ignored didn't mean that I was invisible. The teachers still notice me, but they've got no feelings. And the bullies… They were much worse than the teachers and my parents combined.

My parents didn't care about me at all. One of the only times my mom paid attention to me was when I came from home everyday. My mom would ask if I had any quizzes or tests. She would expect me to say an honest answer. Once I tried to lie, and I ended up getting a beating from her. After every beating, I would wish that I were invisible from them in the first place. It happened all the time; it felt like a habit.

She may also say, "We're moving, Sora. Pack your things." It was true that we moved here and there. We were like gypsies. We moved from Destiny Islands to desert places to freezing weather to the lush green woods.

We came back to Destiny Islands. Nothing had changed. I guess I didn't notice any because my heart was as cold as ever to even notice. The island was still surrounded by the salty water. Lots of tropical trees with dark chocolate-looking coconuts and ripe bananas were found everywhere you looked, just like when I was first here.

In school, there was no difference. I watched people playing games or talk. And every time one more person joined the fun, the tighter the knot became in my heart until it demanded me to untie it. Homework was the only thing I could do with no one to talk to. If I didn't have homework, I would start doodling strange things. At the end of school, the bell would ring, and I would walk home alone. And every time I saw people walking home together, I felt jealousy stinging my heart.

When I came home, I would have finished my homework already, so I would look at the window to watch the teens enjoying skateboarding or playing basketball. My mom's knife chopping would repeat in my ear. She was chopping her vegetables for soup just made for her hard working husband. My hard working dad. Then she would take Chips Ahoy or Oreo cookies and place them onto the plate so I could eat it. When dinner came, my mom and dad would just talk to each other on the dining table. Anytime I tried to say something, they would ignore it, so I take my cookies and walk away.

Sometimes I would walk away to the cave that echoed the ocean waves, or maybe I would just walk away to the paopu tree. I only went there because I never got so much food at home or school. I would stop there and grab a paopu fruit and force myself to chew on it, even though it was bitter like my emotions. Another fruit would grow back in the same place when I came back from school with bullies chasing me.

I was their toy. They would come back to me everyday like a magnet. I would get cornered at the lonely island with the paopu tree, and they would beat me down. My back would always hit the paopu tree. We shared a horrible history.

The most common place I walked away was to the shore. I went there just to write in the tanned sand. The waves would come crashing in like how my heart has been crashed over and over again. The water would erase away everything I wrote, and I would always have to start all over. Sometimes I wondered if my life could start all over.

I would probably still be out of the house lying down on the paopu tree or on the sand when the stars come out from its hiding place. The sun would tell the moon to come out, and I would watch the scene. Sometimes I wondered if I could be as high as the stars. Every night I would take my hand out to try to touch them and miss. As the days passed, the stars seemed to move farther away. My heart felt like it was losing more hope.

So when the stars stopped moving one day, I knew. My heart was no longer begging for hope.

* * *

**Author's Endnote:** Please review! Keep the flames to yourself. 


	2. I Became a Somebody

**Author's Note:** Kairi may sound a little childish, but I couldn't help it. I've decided to make this chapter into the REAL first chapter. Thank you tothose who reviewed. Not bad for a prologue.

**Disclaimer:** Disney and Square-Enix aren't mine, and the teachers were teachers that I have met or have known. The plot is mine, however.

**Reach for the Stars**

**Chapter 1:  
****I Became a Somebody**

**W**e're moving. Pack your things," Sora's mom said when she heard the door creaking slightly. The door hit the pale walls that his mom had just painted. "And don't try to mess up the walls."

Sora closed the door back and set his backpack down. He knew what was going to happen next. He heard his mother's feet shuffle a little, and then she walked up to him, having that garlic smell on her hands.

"Any quizzes or tests?" she asked. Sora passed his mom swiftly and started to walk up the creaky stairs.

"No," he answered. He did what he was told, and went to his door that labeled "Sora's room. Go in and die." Ignoring the label and tearing it off, he went inside and into the closet to find boxes.

Sora's room was probably the only room that was painted blue. His bed that he kept since he was five was by the window. On the sill were purple daisies that his mom put to make the _house_ look better. Not _Sora's_ bedroom. A wooden desk was right next to the bed, with little notes and doodles stuck all over the place. Pieces of paper were found all scattered around. Sora glared around the room for no apparent reason and started stuffing everything in the boxes.

The next morning, a moving truck came. Sora's mom and dad were surrounded by lots of people, and none of them had notice Sora doing labor work. He was dragging all the boxes into the moving truck, and no matter how heavy the boxes were, nobody noticed him at all. When he finished, his parents gave another good-bye to everyone and went into the front of the truck.

"No, no, no, no, no. There is no room for you," Sora's mom said to him as she got onto the seat with her husband. "You can go to the back of the truck and sit there. I'm sure you'll enjoy yourself in there." Sora nodded dimly and jumped into the back.

He didn't know how long he was in the back, but he could hear laughs, giggles, and some kissing from his parents. Sora's stomach kept grumbling, but there wasn't any food. Then again, that happened to him so much that it was like going to school, only it was longer. He lost track of time, but the truck thrust forward and stopped just in time to wake Sora up for more labor work.

"Your dad and I are going to a restaurant. I expect you to finish moving in by the time we're back." She flattened her brunette hair and left. Sora took the black slope and started dragging the boxes.

_W__hat do they have in these anyway?_

Sora of course still had bruises on his back and arms from the fight he got into yesterday with the bullies who chased him down to the paopu tree.

Sora couldn't bring himself to smile that he took a paopu fruit before he left. He reached in his jeans and took out the paopu fruit. It still had its ripe, yellow color, but it was still bitter. Sora's stomach grumbled again, but he resisted eating the only item that reminded him his favorite place.

For the rest of the day, no one took pity on him while he was moving in. Probably no one even noticed the house. Only the sounds of night owls and crickets were talking.

----

"Quiet down, I'm trying to take the damn roll check!" Dr. Stepper yelled to the noisy class. The noises slowly drowned, but whispers still zoomed around the room. "Thank you!" He grabbed the yellow pencil and began checking everyone off furiously to get it over with, not caring at all if the student was here or not.

"I assume everyone is here," he said in a gruff voice. "Now, to start our Greek studies…"

The door made a creaking noise, and everyone turned to see who came in. A spiky haired brunette was standing by the doorway looking at the class. He was wearing all black from his shoulders to his feet.

"Oh, you must be Sora Takahashi," Dr. Stepper said airily. He set the board down to his desk. "I heard we have a new student coming in, but I didn't know it would be today! Come in, we were just talking about Greece."

Sora looked nervously at Dr. Stepper. He sounded cheerful and not very boring as most History teachers he had gotten before. He had old, gray hair, and spectacles that covered his pair of brown eyes. They seemed to be staring straight at him. Sora found it a little strange but was too nervous to speak.

"Why don't you sit down over thereby Kairi? Kairi, raise your hand," Dr. Stepper said. Sora looked over to the left side of the room. More than twenty-five students were eying on him. An auburn haired girl raised her hand and waved it wildly in the air.

"And now you know Kairi Tanaka," the teacher said. Sora walked to the back of the room and sat down right next to Kairi.

"Dr. Stepper!" a different student yelled loudly. He was sitting right in front of Sora. He had blond hair and a blitzball under his desk. Sora looked at both him and Kairi.

_How could those two look so happy?_

"Don't shout in front of the class, Tidus!" Dr. Stepper said strictly. "Do you have something nice to say for once?"

"Yeah," the boy replied. "You know in these textbooks it says that Alexander the Great never lost a battle?"

"Yes," Dr. Stepper said slowly. "Continue on."

"But if he never lost a battle, that means he should still be alive. He would have won the battle against his virus that made him sick," said Tidus.

"Oh, how you entertain me. Maybe you should join me for lunch? I would love to hear more about it," said Dr. Stepper. The whole class sniggered.

"Oh! My dream was so awesome," Tidus said excitedly. "I was in your class, and you locked me into the back closet so I would stay there until I die to go to Hell to visit mighty Pluto. Of course, I took out my Brotherhood sword that my father gave to me on my sixth birthday, and then slashed him into pieces. Somehow I got teleported to Zanarkand to defeat Sin, but I got blown all the way to Besaid and –"

"That's a bright idea, Tidus," Dr. Stepper interrupted. He reached into his pockets to pull out a few keys and gave it to Tidus. "Have fun in Hell."

Tidus slowly took the keys. "Are you serious? I can go into the closet?" Dr. Stepper just stared at him. "Sweet!" He grabbed the keys and unlocked the closet door at the back of the room, then shut himself up. A bit of a ruffle was heard in the closet before it was dead silent.

"Now that he went away, we can continue our studies in Greece, and not about his dreams," Dr. Stepper said. He brought his glasses up to his nose and opened up his teacher textbook.

Sora looked at the picture that was in front of his eyes. "Hello," a voice chirped.

_Did someone say "hello" to me?_

Sora decided to ignore it and continue to stare at the picture of Athena and the Parthenon.

"My name's Kairi Tanaka," the girl continued. "And if my ears are working, you're Sora Takahashi, right?" Sora still didn't bother looking up, thinking that it was his own imagination.

A few seconds later, something was poking his shoulder. "Can you please stop?" Sora asked quietly.He looked up from his textbook. Kairi looked much brighter and more cheerful than Sora did. She was smiling from ear to ear, and her blue eyes were sparkling with interest.

"I see Kairi's all confident in Greek," Dr. Stepper said. "Tell me then, what were heavily armed foot soldiers called, and what was their formation?"

There were loud sounds of pounding in the back closet. "I know, I know!" Tidus yelled from within.

"You're not part of the conversation, now get back to Zanykind, or whatever that loony place is called," said Dr. Stepper.

"Well…" Kairi trailed off. "The soldiers were called… hoplites, and, well… their formation was… a phoenix? I think." Dr. Stepper moaned in displeasure.

"Did you take any notes from yesterday's video?" Dr. Stepper said. "What has this world come to…? Sora! Why don't you answer? Since you're a new student, I'd like to see your background knowledge."

"A phalanx," Sora muttered quietly. He was getting really uncomfortable of the people around him.

_Couldn't they just ignore me, like everyone else I've met before had?_

But the people here were different. Most noticed him, especially the girl. Kairi had said hello to him. No one else ever said a hello. Well, not a friendly hello.

"What?" Dr. Stepper asked. "Speak up! What is it? I thought I heard it," Dr. Stepper said eagerly.

"A phalanx," Sora mumbled a little louder, still staring at the text in his textbook.

"Thank you!" Dr. Stepper boomed happily, making everyone else shiver in fright. "Thank you, Sora! Someone here actually pays attention!"

A louder noise of clobbering was in the back closet. "But Dr. Stepper, I paid attention to the video too! It said –"

"What do you know? All you know is that you got a sixty-six percent on your last test, and that you were the only person that failed," Dr. Stepper said loudly to cut off Tidus's voice.

"Why don't you like talking?" Kairi asked Sora. "People who don't talk very much don't make much friends."

"Kairi, stop talking or I'll stitch Tidus's mouth _and_ yours," Dr. Stepper threatened.

"Sorry," Kairi apologized. She stopped talking to Sora and gazed over at her own textbook. Dr. Stepper continued to teach his lesson on Greece, ignoring the sounds of the back closet.

"Kairi?" Sora decided to ask. Kairi turned her attention away from her book. "What are… friends?" He never had friends. He never even knew how to make one. Were friends people who talked to you? Or maybe just liked you as a person?

"Oh! There are all kinds of friends!" Kairi said. "There are best friends, true friends, regular friends, fair-weathered friends, and so on. To make one, they have to like you, and you have to like them. They have to think you're a good person, and you have to think like that back. Friendship usually develops through time period." She stopped for a while looking at Sora's depressed face. "I just thought you look like you needed someone to talk to."

Sora wished he never even asked the question. It didn't feel right that someone was talking to him. There were thirty-one people she could have talked with instead of him. He was always the one left out.

"Oh," was the only thing Sora uttered out.

"Why don't you meet some of my friends to see? Maybe they'll become your friends too!" Kairi suggested.

"Stop acting like you're in kindergarten, Mrs. Tanaka!" Dr. Stepper shook his head. "If I were in charge of the world, I would cancel silliness…"

"But Greek were the ones who invented comedy," Kairi

"Whatever! Just stop talking!" Dr. Stepper continued groaning. "And Tidus, you get out of that closet this instant." Tidus did, but nobody figured out why he looked so happy.

"Stop giving me that daydreaming look," Dr. Stepper snapped. But Sora thought the snap looked different. He didn't look mad at all. Sora had never seen that kind of snap. He heard his mom snapping about his grades and some snapping before a beating, but the snap that Dr. Stepper just showed wasn't like those kinds of snaps. He had a smirk plastered on his face, and everyone wasn't frightened by his actions either.

No, Sora figured that his History teacher was less than boring.

"You are to write an essay on a story that dealt with a god or goddess, and tell how it relates to the gods and goddesses in Greece," Dr. Stepper explained. "This will be one of those big grades, so don't go lacking off on this. Remember, determination –"

"Is the key to get an A unless you lack all the other letters in determination and end up getting a D. We know, we know," Tidus sighed.

"I'm surprised that you can remember all that," the teacher said. He looked at the clock hanging on the green wall behind Sora.

"Who would like to volunteer to be Sora's partner in this activity? He hasn't studied a lot about Greece," Dr. Stepper asked.

Kairi jumped up from her seat. "I would!"

"No, I'm –" Sora stopped.

"Kairi, is there by any chance that you're on sugar high?" said Dr. Stepper. "You're usually not this noisy." By the time he finished saying "noisy," the bell rung.

"No," Kairi said happily to Dr. Stepper before trying to catch up to Sora who seemed to be trying to get away from her. "Sora, wait!" She grabbed his arm.

Sora turned around. "What?" he stuttered. The two moved over to the edge where the lockers were so the mob of people going to their next class wouldn't stampede over them and turn them into pancakes.

"Can't you wait up?" Kairi gasped, trying to get her breath back. Sora didn't know what to say. He lacked speech.

"I'm… sorry," Sora said softly. "Is there something you wanted to tell me?"

Kairi grabbed his arm. "I told you that I wanted you to meet my friends!" she said.

Sora shook his head. "But I'll get rejected, just like what everyone else did to me."

Kairi pulled his arm a little. "Don't worry, my friends are nice. They won't reject you. If they do, I'll handle it." Sora hesitantly agreed, still a little stiff from the contact of someone else. Nobody had ever touched him, unless if he counted the bullies and his parents.

"Kairi, what's with you zooming off? I thought you were going to wait for us," a girl with brunette hair yelled behind them. She looked over to Sora and took both of her hands to shake it with him. "It's Sora! Hello Sora, how's your day?" the girl asked excitedly. She had cheerful green eyes and a grin on her mouth. Her brunette hair was like any other girl's hair, but it started curling up when it reached to her neck. She wore a yellow dress and a pair of brown sandals. In her hands were a yellow binder and a textbook with a yellow book covering.

Sora shifted his eyes around uneasily. Next to the hyper girl was the same blond boy who was locked in the closet in History. He had a mischievous look in his blue eyes. "I stole his whole bag of candy in the closet," Tidus said. "I didn't think he would fall for my fake dream. I'm so evil."

"No, you are so loud," another boy exclaimed. "Can't you do something else to distract a teacher if you wanted a bag of candy from the closet?" He had blue eyes like Kairi. His hair was blond like Tidus's, but it was lighter.

The girl beside him shook her head. She had blond hair as well, and she was carrying a sketchbook in her arms. "That wasn't very smart. Dr. Stepper will figure it out that you were the one who stole the candy, and he'll hunt you down until he kills you. You know he likes candy."

Kairi couldn't help but giggle a little. "Sora, this blond girl is Naminé, while the boy is Roxas. The hyper little girl is Selphie. And I think you may already know Tidus," Kairi emphasized the last word that came out of her mouth. "See? They aren't mean at all."

Tidus looked over to Sora, eating his rainbow lolipop. "I'm mean?"

Sora couldn't take all the attention given to him anymore. "I – I think I have to go," Sora said quietly before strolling quickly off to his next period, trying to lose them.

"Good job, Tidus!" Kairi snapped. "You scared him off! He doesn't look like he had so many friends, and you just go in and say that you're mean! He feels rejected because of your stupid mouth!"

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" Tidus said quickly. "I'll try to make it up to him, I promise!"

----

Sora sat at the back of his Pre-calculus class, playing with his pencil, lost in his thoughts. He was so mindless that he hadn't notice Roxas sitting next to him and saying hello to him.

"Sora, Tidus wanted to say sorry. He was just joking and all that stuff," Roxas said, trying to convince Sora that Tidus wasn't mad at him.

"Huh, what?" Sora looked up. "Oh… hi Roxas." He didn't have anything to talk about, so he continued to look at his sheet of paper.

"What are you doing?" Roxas looked over to Sora's sheet of paper. Sora immediately covered it up.

"I don't want to talk about it," Sora said.

_Just leave me alone to think._

Roxas felt bad for Sora. He looked so lonely… and he looked like he wasn't fed at all. He was pretty much skin and bones. Roxas tried to start another conversation.

"Sorry for noising in your business. I'm so rude," Roxas sighed.

Sora felt guilty at once. "No, don't apologize! I'm the one being rude. It's just that, I…"

"It's okay, you don't have to tell me," Roxas quickly said. He didn't want to go in depth and drive the conversation to somewhere private.

Sora turned back to his work. He was feeling really uncomfortable. Weren't people supposed to overlook him?

"Wait, Roxas, I want… to tell," Sora said. "I'm just not… used to people looking at me. Most people ignored me. I'm just an invisible person."

"No you aren't," Roxas said. "The people who did were just assholes. Don't bother about them. Kairi didn't ignore you, did she? And I'm talking to you. You don't seem invisible to me." Sora didn't talk. He was lost in thought. "Come on, don't think negative, go to the positive side."

Roxas tried to talk about something to Sora that could last for more than a minute, but no matter how much he said Sora would only answer short answers and end the discussion.

"Where'd you come from?"

"Destiny Islands."

"I know that place. I've been there before. It's a wonderful place!"

_Unless if you were being ignored_.

"I don't want to talk about it." He edged away and began packing all his stuff for Biology.

At Biology, Tidus came over to Sora, just like he feared would happen. Sora stayed silent the whole time while Tidus chit-chattered. When the bell rang, Sora ran away, leaving a confused Tidus.

During art, Kairi, Naminé, and Selphie spoke with him, but it didn't do Sora any good. Naminé and Selphie decided to leave from their table to finish their sketch at the back of the room.

"Today is a free draw today, since we have all worked hard on our last project," Mrs. Falls, the art teacher, said. She was an African-American, and she had glasses. Her hair was a mousy grayish color. She too was smiling. Sora didn't know why people smiled so much. Do people do it when they're happy? What's happy? Sora didn't even know what the emotion of happiness felt like.

"Kairi, may I ask another question?" Sora decided to ask after a lot of argument in his mind.

Kairi stopped moving her pencil. "Sure," she said.

"What does happy feel like?" Sora asked shyly.

Kairi didn't answer. A few _tick tock_ sounds came from the grandfather clock that sat between the window and Sora.

"You don't know what happy is?" asked Kairi. "You might feel it when there's something exciting to you, or maybe you've accomplished something. Maybe you helped someone, and you're happy that you did."

"I don't think I ever felt it before," Sora said. He felt so stupid. Every person had probably felt happiness except for a puny guy who was nothing but air that passed through most peoples' eyes.

"You must have felt it sometime!" Kairi said.

Sora stopped drawing and looked at his picture of Destiny Islands. "Maybe," he said in a whisper, thinking that Kairi wasn't listening, "but I would have forgotten the feeling."

----

People were everywhere. They may have been in the lunchroom sitting at the neatly arranged navy blue tables. The black, white, and red tiles on the floor were neatly polished. Only people who didn't like the outside were sitting down on the tables. People like cool people.

Some were found outside eating at the old broken benches that were built below tall oak trees. There were also people sitting on the grass looking up at the sky, chewing their food. The ones who didn't have anyone to talk to were at the tire swings tied below the big trees. And maybe some were daring enough to climb up its branches to get a top view of the school.

Only one tree was left alone, the only sakura tree. It was shedding its colorful pedals for the following autumn that was to come. Sora decided that it was the only tree not occupied by people.

_Why do people notice me now? Why not before? Is it because I'm new?_ _I must be dreaming. I'm always lonely. No one ever talks to me. When I wake up from this dream, I'll find myself back on Destiny Islands, trying to close the alarm clock. Then I would go downstairs and –_

"Sora!" the voice chimed through the breezy air. Sora flinched and stopped chewing so hard on his sandwich.

It was Kairi. "You look lonely," Kairi said. "Can I eat with you?" Sora nodded absentmindedly.

"Something's bothering you," Kairi said. "I can tell."

Sora shook his head. "Nobody has talked to me before." Kairi blinked. She blinked again.

"No one?"

"No one."

Kairi thought for a moment. "Is that why you don't like talking?"

"Yeah. I'm not used to talking." An awkward silence followed.

A few moments later, Kairi spoke up. "Sora, why don't you ever look happy? Maybe you'll feel happy if you look happy."

_Why don't I ever look happy? I'm ignored, I do labor work for my parents, I have no friends… What's there happy to be about?_

"There's nothing happy to be about," Sora replied dully.

"How can you say that?" Kairi asked. "Aren't you happy someone's talking to you? Isn't that enough to enlighten you up a little? Aren't you happy that Thanksgiving is coming up, and that after would be winter and there would be snow? Aren't you happy you'll be able to make igloos and snow forts and snowballs? Did you ever even try?"

Sora sat there speechless as ever. "Why don't you try?" Kairi asked. "There's always something to be happy about, so make a smile!"

"I can't," Sora said.

"What do mean? You can frown, but you can't smile?" Kairi asked. "Try. My grandmother said that anyone could smile if you try hard enough."

Sora tried smiling, but he only got rid of his frown. "Nice start for someone that hasn't smiled before," Kairi complemented.

"Hi Sora, hi Kairi!" the two heard someone greeting. They turned around and found Tidus and the others coming.

"Oh, it's you again, Tidus," Kairi said. "I should've known from that annoying voice from yours."

"Hey!" Tidus whined. Kairi and the rest laughed. He plopped down under the sakura tree, making the pink pedals fly everywhere. Sora sneezed when one landed on his nose.

"Damn these community services," Tidus sighed. "What's the point? They can't make us do community services! I'm going to protest."

"How many hours did you do?" Kairi asked. "I did forty-nine."

"Zero," Tidus complained.

Selphie giggled. "You should start or they won't let you into college."

Namine on the other hand was sitting there drawing as usual. "Selphie's got a point. We all did at least forty. You should be lucky you got held back in tenth grade or you'll have only junior and senior to do it."

"But I don't want to!" Tidus continued complaining.

"Did you purposely get held back just so you can be with Yuna?" Selphie teased.

"No!" Tidus blushed a little.

"Tidus, anyone can tell that you like Yuna," Roxas sighed. "I mean we saw you trying to impress Yuna with your swordsmanship. And Yuna only sings to you for practice 'cause she trusts you only. Plus you two always go out or dance together. You're just denying the fact that you like her, and she likes you. And you can't wait for tomorrow because Yuna will be back."

"Liar," Tidus said. Everyone laughed at him except Sora. He didn't know how to laugh.

_How do I laugh if I can't even smile?_

For the rest of the school time, Sora was starting to feel more welcomed at school, even if it was equal to how small a grain of sand was. He met another girl as well during Spanish class. Paine Ito was her name. She was wearing black clothes as well, and she had the look "I don't care if you die or not." She didn't like talking much either, but she was really friendly when she asked Kairi if Sora was her friend.

When the bell rang for the last time, Sora wasn't glad that school was over like most students. They were glad because it was Friday. They could go hang out, do backyard football that could last forever, or hold a sleepover party. Maybe they wanted to plan something for Saturday night or just go onto the Internet and chat.

Sora didn't have any of the things other people had. He started walking home alone again until he heard someone say his name.

"Sora! Are you always in a rush?" Kairi said as she tried to catch up to Sora. "Don't you walk with someone when you go home?"

"No." Sora looked down at the ground as if it was interesting.

"Didn't anyone ever walk with you?" Kairi asked. Sora shook his head and kicked a rock he passed by. It rolled down to the road and into the drain.

Kairi sighed. "So you're telling me that nobody has ever walked with you. Why are you such a solo person?"

"Because nobody cares about me," Sora answered quietly like he usually did.

"Doesn't your parents care?"

"I don't want to talk about it."

"Oh. Okay. I'm sor-"

"There's nothing to be sorry about."

Kairi suddenly had a bright idea developing in her mind. "Where do you live?"

"12319 Homestead Avenue," Sora uncertainly said. "Why?" They were nearing over to Sora's house. The sidewalk was starting to slope a little forward, and at the end of the road was Sora's house.

"Oh, no reason," Kairi said simply. "I was just interested." The area below them was like in a cereal bowl. Sora and Kairi were at the edge of the cereal cup. The house was at the bottom of the pit.

"I have to go! Expect me later!" Kairi said. She skipped away, leaving a lonely Sora to face his parents again.

----

"Mom?" Sora tried asking.

" – And you wouldn't believe what he said!" Sora's mom laughed to her husband. "He loved my idea of the wedding dress and said that I should get promoted!"

"That's wonderful, honey!" Sora's dad said. They hugged each other.

_And I'm still being ignored._

Sora knew it was time to walk away again with his cookies. Only when he reached the door and opened it a little, he didn't believe what he saw.

* * *

**Author's Endnote:** Please review! Was it good? Okay? I'd like comments. No flames. 


	3. You Enlightened me a Bit

**Author's Note:** Thank you reviewers! Gives me more confidence to write. I've been loaded with lots of homework lately, so sorry if it takes so long to update now. My math teacher had to load me – and my class with thousands of worksheets. School's more than halfway finished, so I'm happy.

**Copyrights:** Square or Disney owns most of the things in the story, and as for the rest are people I've met in real life. "Simple and Clean" is owned by Utada Kikaru, who rocks, and J. K. Rowling owns the Harry Potter Series. I kinda got the lady with the broom in _Maniac Magee_, written by Jerry Spinelli. And I do own the plot. Happy reading.

**Reach for the Stars**

**Chapter 2:  
****You Enlightened me a Bit**

**S**ora almost dropped his cookies. "Riku?" Riku was standing at the doorway, almost as surprised as he was. Then he went on smirking.

"Oh, it's Sora. I didn't know your parents were friends with mine." His silver hair was flying with the wind, and behind him were his two parents: one with white hair and tanned skin, the other with piercing aqua eyes and pale skin. They all looked unwelcoming.

"Oh, the Sato family!" Sora heard his mom say. A clunk of chopsticks was heard at the kitchen, and Sora's mom rushed to the doorway, shoving Sora onto the floor. He stood up and went up stairs as soon as he got the chance.

_What's he doing here? I thought he moved away… Oh no._

Sora went quickly into his room and locked his door. Riku would soon come up and bang the door, demanding him to open it. Then Riku would beat Sora up to death. He was sure. He could already hear the stairs creeping and that snicker that he heard since kindergarten.

He looked out at the window. Without a second thought, he started unlocking it. The door was shaking, and he heard the lock clinking in the doorknob. Sora grabbed for the tree branch that was by his window and went down just when he heard the door unlock.

He didn't hesitate at all to jump down twenty feet, even if he was risking an injury. He didn't need another beating after the one a few nights ago.

Sora landed flat on the ground. "Oomph!" a girl was heard. He opened his eyes. He was on top of someone else. Sora blushed a little and sat up.

"Sorry," he said timidly as he took the crunchy, red leaves out of his messy brown hair. "I wasn't looking where I was jumping…"

"Oh, it's only you." He looked up. It was Kairi again. Again, again, and again. She always seemed there, right next to him at the worst times. She seemed to be everywhere. "Why did you have to jump?" she continued to whine. "I think I might have snapped a rib or something."

"Oh, sorry. Do you need to go to a doctor?" Sora asked. Kairi blinked at him for a second before laughing.

"I was only joking!" Kairi said. "I didn't mean it." She wiped her purple dress to make sure all the leaves were off of it. "What are you doing out here anyway?" She picked up her notebook that lied on the sidewalk.

"Uhh…" Sora didn't want to tell her about Riku. "I was just… running out of the house, you see."

"Oh, I see," she said in a tone that didn't sound so convinced. And awkward silence followed.

"Come on," she finally said, tugging his wrist, " since you're here, there's something I want to show you before it leaves." Sora cautiously agreed and stood up. Kairi was running up the hill, followed by Sora who wasn't so used to hills so much since Destiny Islands was plainly made up of plateaus. Soon he found out that Twilight Town was no different. Because he lived to the side of the town, he wouldn't have found so many flat roads everywhere.

Sora had no idea where Kairi was leading him. "Kairi? Where are we going?"

"Somewhere," said the breathless girl. "I think you'll like it." After a few moments of twisting and turning in the confusing town, Sora was standing in the front of a tower – a bell tower.

It was very, very tall, with two bells on both sides. Without warning, the bells began ringing. Since Sora and Kairi were standing close to it, they had to cover their ears from the deafening sound.

"That's just the bell," Kairi said. "I guess we hit this place at the wrong time, huh?" She laughed nervously, hoping Sora wasn't too scared to go up.

"What's there to like?" Sora asked. "It's just a bell tower."

"Not just a bell tower. Let's go up," said Kairi.

"Up the tower?" Sora said nervously. "I don't think I want to…"

_Up the tower? What's Kairi thinking?_

"No, you have to go up," begged Kairi. She led Sora to the elevator located at the side. "There's nothing scary. I went up there a bunch of times. Come on, it's great up there." She gave him a reassuring smile. Sora couldn't help but feel a little safe with her. He nodded slightly.

When they got out the elevator, Sora felt the nice breeze. Kairi laughed and dragged Sora to the edge of the bell tower.

"Kairi, are you sure this is safe?" Sora asked, looking down. The bell tower was more than ten stories high. Maybe fifteen.

"Don't look down. Look up," Kairi told him. Sora did after a few more convincing and found himself staring at a familiar sunset.

"It… looks like the sunset where I used to see where I lived," exclaimed Sora. "It's…"

_Oh, it's pretty. It looks more beautiful than the sunset I've seen before… It's wonderful. Like I'll say that. Why did you show me? I don't deserve such a nice –_

"You looked like you need something to cheer you up. We can just come here and do our essay," said Kairi cheerfully. "Don't you love the scene?"

Sora shrugged. "It's… okay." He didn't want to tell her that he liked it, thinking that he would humiliate himself. Only then did he notice – after years of ignorance – he had homework.

----

It was Saturday, and Sora was sitting at the porch where his parents were just standing a few moments ago. They went away when they had been told that they won the lottery ticket for a week trip on some cruise ship. And did they bring Sora along? No; they made Sora do all the housework for the whole week.

Sora looked at his acoustic guitar and sighed. "When you walk away, you don't hear me say please…"

_My parents are having fun, and Kairi's probably doing something with her friends. And me… I'm sitting at the boring pit hole playing on my guitar._

Sora had to admit; being with Kairi wasn't so bad. Maybe they became friends? Or maybe she was just a person he could speak with easily. "Don't get me wrong I love you…" He abruptly stopped singing and strumming the strings of his guitar when he heard the grass around him ruffling.

"You never told me you played a guitar!" the voice rang like bells and stopped Sora's train or thoughts. He looked up and saw Kairi running down the hill. She was wearing denim jeans and a "I love Chocolate" shirt. Her regular smile was still on her face.

Sora set his guitar very slowly. He found it a long time ago at Destiny Islands when he was searching for his homework. It was his only thing that entertained Sora, and he didn't want to break the only instrument he had.

"Did someone teach you?" asked Kairi. Sora shook his head.

"I learned by watching other people," said Sora softly. "I'm not so good."

"Yes you are!" Kairi said. "Yuna could use someone like you!"

Sora was confused. "Who's Yuna?"

"Oh yeah, you didn't meet her yet… come on, let's go to the mall!" said Kairi. "That's what I was here in the first place."

"Mall?" Sora asked, getting more confused. "What's a mall?"

Kairi sighed. "You don't know what a mall is?" She tugged Sora's wrist. "I'll show you. I guess you never went to one, did you?"

Sora looked at her eyes. They were scanning his house. "And why is your house so empty looking?"

"Uh, well… My parents went to visit someone else," Sora lied quickly, "and I wasn't interested going." Kairi stared at him doubtfully.

They walked over to the Twilight Town mall, and Sora's mind soon broke down, a lot. He hated crowds, and the ones in the mall were one of the most.

"Maybe I should just stay out here at the bench," said Sora uneasily. "I don't think it would be a good idea –"

"No," Kairi interrupted, "you're so coming with me. There're just people like you. There's nothing scary." Sora followed in defeat. He saw his classmates Kairi introduced the other day at the fountain flipping coins into it.

"I wish that our team will win the Blitzball Tournament," Tidus said very loudly for no reason before flipping his penny into the fountain.

Roxas rolled his eyes. "Yeah, like a penny would grant you a wish."

"Hey, look how many pennies are littered in the water! They practically dot the whole fountain!" exclaimed Tidus. "I'll count them for you!"

Kairi groaned. "Yuna, stop him." Selphie giggled at Yuna and Tidus. Yuna took her penny and threw it into the pool of water. Tidus saw it splash into the water and stopped counting all the money immediately.

"Maybe I shouldn't. There're too many pennies to count," said Tidus. Roxas snickered.

"Man, Yuna's like the remote control and Tidus is like the robot," he said. "I wish I was like Yuna. Then I can control Tidus forever."

Sora looked over to Naminé, who was drawing something. Kairi noticed his gaze and asked, "Naminé, what are you drawing?"

Naminé flinched a little bit when she got some attention and quickly hid her picture, blushing a little. "Oh, nothing. Just… something!"

Kairi looked suspiciously at her. Naminé was acting really strange lately. Maybe it was just her being a paranoid. "Whatever you say…"

"I'm going to find a guitarist to help me with the chorus show," said Yuna. "I hope I'll overcome Larxene's song…"

"You mean the blondie with Riku? The girl who has two strands of hair sticking out of side of her head like horns? She's pathetic!" Tidus said. "Yuna sings _way_ better than that idiot." Roxas gave Selphie the "that was typical" face. Selphie sniggered.

Kairi spoke up. "But you don't need to go find one, Yuna. Just ask Sora. He's really good at playing his acoustic guitar."

Sora stiffened. "I – I'm not that good. Nobody taught me. I just learned how to play myself," said Sora.

"Stop lying to yourself," said Kairi. "I was watching. You were brilliant!"

Sora blushed a little. "I'm not brilliant. But I guess I'll help…" He looked at Yuna. She had brown hair that ran down all the way down to her neck. Her right eye was blue, while her left was green.

"What happened to your eyes?" Sora asked quietly.

Yuna laughed. "People always ask me that question. I had some freak accident when I was little. I turned out to have bi-colored eyes. I don't know if I was supposed to have blue eyes or green ones."

"I wish that our team will be the Blitzball Championship," Tidus said again, this time throwing a quarter into the fountain instead of a penny.

"Isn't that pretty much the same wish as the last one? And why waste twenty-five cents? I could buy a cookie with that coin," Roxas said. At the mention of food, Sora's stomach grumbled. He hadn't eaten anything since yesterday.

"Oh, we have a hungry friend," said Kairi. "We'll go get the food." Kairi tugged Sora's clothes, and Sora had no choice but to follow her.

"Do you have any money?" Kairi asked. Sora took out his blue wallet and searched around. He lost his latest job at a shopping market when he moved away. He hadn't earned any money since.

"It's okay, you don't have to buy me any food," said Sora.

"Nah, you need food," protested Kairi. "You can't live without food." She gave Sora ten dollars. "Here, take it."

Sora looked at Kairi's eyes. They looked so caring, and almost mesmerizing. It still had that sparkle…

Sora shook his head to get the thought away, a little more frustrating than usual. Kairi mistook it as a no and walked away to the food court. He found himself getting shoved into a seat. Kairi slid the tray full of food to Sora. He looked Kairi. "Aren't you going to eat?"

"Maybe." Kairi giggled. "At least you're starting to speak more fluent than when I met you yesterday," said Kairi cheerfully.

"I am?" asked Sora. Kairi nodded.

----

"You know," Tidus said, "I'm getting hungry as well. Let's go find Sora and Kairi."

"You're such a bigmouthed freak," said Yuna. Yuna, Tidus, Roxas, and Selphie were at the arcade playing air hockey only because Tidus forced them to. Naminé was sitting at the corner drawing as usual, not telling anyone what she was drawing.

"Thirty to twenty-six!" Tidus shouted, getting everyone's attention. "Ha! Yuna and I won, you three lost. You pay."

"Come on, Naminé," Roxas said. "We're getting food." Her head peeked up a little from her sketchbook. She closed it and caught up to Roxas.

"Is there something up? You seem… distant," Roxas asked.

"No- nothing's wrong," Namine said. "Nothing wrong at all." Roxas stared suspiciously at her. "What?" she said. Roxas shook his head and looked up front.

Tidus was literally knocking down anyone in his way to the food court. Yuna went chasing after him, and Selphie only giggled at the two.

"And they still don't admit that they like each other," Selphie said to Roxas and Naminé. The three caught up with the other two, only to find another group going over to the table Sora and Kairi was sitting at.

"Oh, damn," Tidus said, who also saw the very, very familiar group. "I smell trouble."

----

"Well," Kairi began talking to Sora again but soon got cut off.

"Oh! It's Kairi!" someone said behind her. "And look! A porcupine!" Kairi quickly turned around to find a young man that certainly looked like a harasser. He had red spiky hair and green eyes.

"Wow Axel," started Kairi, "I'm surprised that you aren't a porcupine. Oh wait, you are a porcupine, considering how many times you've attacked people with you head."

Axel glared at her and took a step forward from his place. "Who asked for your opinion?"

The two began furiously talking to each other, shooting each other with insults and swear words.

"I'm not surprised that your name means complete jerk," said Kairi.

Sora looked at the group. There was the spiky red haired guy, and a woman with blonde hair. He recognized that it was the same woman Tidus was talking about an hour ago. Another boy had a scar going across his head, and he was wearing some sort of hat. The last of the four was... Sora started shaking slightly when he noticed how familiar the person was.

_It can't be him, can it?_

"Yo, it's Sora!" the silver haired boy said. "Trying to be a stalker?" Sora started shaking more violently.

"Hey, you, gramps with the white hair!" a really loud voice broke through. And anyone would know whose voice it was.

Riku turned his head around. "Oh," he said, "It's the uncontrollable dog." Axel snickered.

"First off, I'm not a dog," Tidus said. "Last time I checked, you were born on the year of the dog. And you Axel were the chicken. I'm surprised you're brave enough to even talk."

"Shut up," Axel snarled and made a fist. The boy with the scar held him back.

"Stop, we can't fight in a mall," he whispered. "Everyone's watching." Indeed, everyone was watching. The children stopped halfway on their food, watching the interesting teens.

"Wow, you haven't grown at all," Riku continue to teaseSora. "I'm sure you're still an outlier. Look at how puny you are compared to everyone else."

Naminé didn't know what was coming out of her mouth, but she couldn't help herself. "Leave him alone!" she said crossly.

"And it's Sora's girlfriend. I'm surprised he even has one," mocked Riku. Naminé's face turned a little pink.

"Shut your mouth, Riku," said Kairi. Riku smirked at her and whispered something to her ear. A few moments of silence passed before a baby started crying, cutting the silence, and everyone started focusing at what they were doing in the first place. When Riku finished whispering, Kairi only glared at him.

The woman with the blonde hair turned to Yuna. "It's the cricket singer."

"You're the cricket singer, Larxene," Yuna said angrily. "Look, you have blonde antennas, just like a cricket! All you have to do is get them to face the front and paint them green."

Larxene was about to punch Yuna when Riku stopped her halfway. "Seifer's right. We're not fighting here." He looked at Sora one more time. "See you later, porcupine."

"Oh, if I could have a wand like Harry Potter," Tidus muttered, "I would have killed them all one by one with that curse."

Roxas shook Sora's shoulders. "They're gone. Do you know them or something?"

Sora nodded slowly before choking out some words. "I know Riku. I knew him since I was five. I – I hate him. He's the reason why…"

"What?" Roxas asked. Sora shook his head.

"What did Riku tell you?" Selphie asked Kairi. Kairi didn't answer. "What? Is it something bad?" She continued asking. Kairi only stared at the spoon on the tray.

Sora stood up so unexpectedly. "I – I'll go." Before anyone could stop him, he pushed his chair to the side and started running for the exit door, his head down so nobody saw the tear falling down his face. He heard his classmate's cries but ignored them and continued running, not caring where the heck he was heading.

The sun was beating down Sora's back, and before he knew it, he was sweating. Taking one last turn to the right, he was gasping for breath. There was another fountain that looked slightly like the one he saw at the mall. He sat down on the side, wiping his tears away.

_Why am I the person who always gets rejected…?_

"It's the little porcupine again," the same annoying voice Sora heard back at the mall snickered. "I go away to take a bottle of beer, and there he follows along!" It was Riku. "Maybe he's looking for a beating because he hasn't gotten any good ones ever since I moved away!" Sora winced.

"I'll be happy to start off!" Axel sniggered. "After all, he looks like a really good punching bag." A fist came in contact with Sora's face. Sora fell into the water. Everyone saw it and ran into their houses. Nobody wanted to mess with the four juniors.

Before Sora could even get up from the water, another fist came at him. The force caused Sora to land onto the floor.

Riku was about to deliver the last blow, but a lady came and swiped her old, broken broomstick between the two. The two looked up at her.

"Now, now," the elderly lady croaked out dangerously, "I don't want a fight here. Get out of here before I shoot you two." Riku glared at the woman. She did the same, and for a long time, they were staring at each other before Riku sneered and backed off. He and his teammates left.

"And you boy," the old woman said, pointing the end of her broomstick at Sora's chest, "don't you get in trouble." Sora nodded quietly before walking away, minding his own going back home to clean the house.

_That woman is scary…_

But then again, someone helped him… again. Sora counted with his fingers.

_The woman helped me, Tidus helped me… Kairi helped – wait, what did she do?_

_She helped you make friends,_ Sora's conscious said.

_No… Tidus and the others are just my classmates, right? They feel pity on me… yeah, that's why people talked to me..._

_Such a self-conscious person. When will you face the truth?_ his conscious said.

"Oh, shut up!" Sora mumbled loudly, looking at the concrete. "I don't need _your _advice…" He winced when a small pain was felt around his face Axel punched earlier.

"And Axel helped knock me back to my senses…"

----

Kairi felt something in her hands. It was an envelope. She looked at it under her table, but when Selphie came over, she quickly hid the pink envelope under the table.

"Is it something bad?" Selphie asked, shaking her shoulders. Kairi shook her head slightly.

"Where's Sora?" Kairi asked.

"Were you that blind?" Roxas sighed. "He ran away, out the door, and to his house."

Kairi stood up. "Wait, which door did he go out?" Tidus pointed at the door next to them. Kairi quickly stuffed the envelope into her jeans. "I'll see you guys on Monday." She ran over to the doors and out to the town.

Looking back to make sure no one was following her, she reached for her envelope and tried opening the wrinkled paper up. Kairi groaned in frustration and ripped it instead. A note came out of it.

_Kairi,_

_My parents and your parents have officially made you my fiancée. There's no way you can break up with me, or you're dead. You can try, but the only thing that's going to happen to you is getting hurt. And I don't want my soon-to-be-wife hurt._

_Riku_

_P.S. Sora and I have known each other for a long time if you were going to ask._

Kairi's body was shaking. "What?" she shouted. "There has got to be no way… it's just another one of his tricks. I know it!" Her mind was no longer set to find Sora but to go home and ask how the hell she was Riku's fiancée. She ran home and opened the door that no longer looked very welcoming.

"Mom!" Kairi yelled angrily, slamming the door shut. "Explanation!" The chopping in the kitchen stopped.

"Honey, your grandma's sleeping; don't distract her!" Kairi's mom whispered. "You know she's not feeling well these days." Kairi plopped down on her couch.

Her grandma wasn't feeling well last month. She was getting worse everyday, and everyone thought she was dieing. Kairi refused to believe it.

"And what explanation?" her mom said. Kairi shoved the letter roughly to her mom. She looked surprise at Kairi's actions, but read the piece of paper anyway. After a few moments, her mom handed it back to Kairi.

"Oh, you mean Riku Sato?" her mom said, acting as if nothing serious has happened. "His parents and us were friends for a while. We wanted you two to get married."

"But I don't want to marry him!" Kairi said. "I don't want to marry an idiotic popular kid that's my enemy. And he hurts Sora."

She eyed on Kairi. "Who's Sora?" she asked. "I don't know him."

"Of course you don't, Mom!" continued Kairi. "He just moved in on Thursday and started school on Friday."

"Oh, are you trying to tell me that you want to invite him to dinner next Saturday?" her mom said. She took off her gloves and threw them into the trashcan. "If that's what you're telling me, then of course! Make sure he brings his parents if they can come. Making new friends is my life." She giggled and slid all the chopped vegetables into the pot, getting them ready to be cooked.

"But Mom! That's not the point!" Kairi said. "It's –"

"Yes, yes," her mother cut Kairi's voice like scissors. "Here, I know you want to impress Riku, so I've bought you a gift for him." She took the nicely wrapped box on the dinning table. It was in aqua, Riku's favorite color. She dropped it into Kairi's arms. "Now make sure it's not opened, destroyed, indented, pickpocketed, or manipulated. And make sure you give Riku your nice, cute grin and say hello to him. Okay?"

Kairi couldn't speak. She didn't want it to end the way it was. When she was about to put some sense into her mom, Mrs. Tanaka hugged her and went back to her cooking.

She heard some jumping behind her and turned around.

"Kairi is getting married!" seven-year-old Sam said. He laughed and then jumped back up the stairs. "Wait till I tell my class!"

"No, you don't understand!" Kairi yelled. "Come back here Sam!"

"Kairi, please, quiet!" Mrs. Tanaka said.

_What is wrong with this world?_

----

It was Monday, and the worst day Sora could get. Only that day he wasn't frowning, which meant a good sign.

Then the clock hanging on the wall downstairs hit its hour and minute hand to seven. The bluebird stored in it came out and did its hourly chirps. When the bird finished, the alarm clock next to Sora's bed started talking loudly. Sora instantly got annoyed.

_Time to wake up, you lazy bones!_ It was his father's voice that was recorded into the alarm clock. Sora only buried his head into his pillow.

_I guess you're not very corporative, are you?_ Sora's father – or rather the alarm clock continued saying.

"No, I'm not," Sora murmured, trying to smash the button. Instead, he hit the hard wooden table. He gave up and went back to sleep.

_Then you'll just need a beat-_ There was a loud smash. The alarm clock was literally destroyed. Sora peeked and eye and looked at the floor. A large indent was greeting him at the wall, and below it was the alarm clock in pieces.

Sora yawned and sat up in bed. It felt more like a strange day than a bad day. There wasn't any stomping of rushing feet on the wooden floors downstairs like he usually heard.

_Oh yeah, they've gone to the cruise ship. And left me behind._

Sora went to the bathroom and turned the faucet on to fill his cup. He didn't need any cold water on his face – he was already wide-awake and fearing Riku already. After the incident the last three days, he hadn't walked out of his room, thinking that Riku was right outside, ready to punch him again.

Sora looked at the mirror. Riku was right. He hadn't change at all, maybe except the few inches added to his height. It was the same unhappy face, the same frown, same tanned skin, and the same spiky hair. Only it became spikier over the years. His dull blue eyes were no different, except the left one it had a light purple mark, still injured from Axel's blow. And his necklace was still hanging on his neck.

He did consider about Kairi and his fellow classmates though. Maybe he should give them a chance. They don't sound so bad. They were helpful at least.

After Sora finished brushing his teeth, he quickly took something random out of his closet and put it on before reaching out for his backpack hanging on the chair.

_And there's nothing to eat again._

Sora turned around for a last look on the table, hoping that there was food, but none came, so Sora sighed and opened the door. The November breeze was a still a little chilly, but being Sora, he ignored the wind touching his skin. To him, it felt like regular wind at July.

"Sora!" called the same exact voice he heard before. Sora didn't flinch that time though. The sound of something rolling turned into footsteps.

_How can _she_ act like I'm her best friend? It hasn't even been a week._

He found Kairi running down to him, holding one of those skateboarding things in her arms. Some kind of hat he seen people wearing before was placed on top of her auburn hair.

"What's that on your head?" Sora asked, pointing at the strange hat.

"This?" Kairi said, touching her hat. "It's a helmet."

"Why do you need a helmet?" he continued asking.

"So if I fell from the skateboard, my head would be safe," answered Kairi. "That's what a helmet does after all."

A pebble rolled down from the hill. "Dude, Kairi, what's taking so long?" a man's voice shouted. And anyone would know whose voice it was.

"Tidus is here?" said Sora.

"Yeah, why not?" Kairi said. "Everyone you know is here. We walk together everyday at morning and the afternoon. Since we passed your house, we wanted you to come along."

"Oh," said Sora. The two walked up the hill, and when they reached the top, Kairi shoved Sora his skateboard.

"What's this for?" Sora asked. It was black at the top and white at the bottom.

Kairi giggled. "Try to skateboard. He handed him the helmet. "Here, you put your right feet at the front, and your other at the back. Now balance, and you're –"

"Off!" Tidus said and pushed Sora. Roxas couldn't help but laugh so hard when he saw Sora almost fall off. He then noticed Naminé's gaze. She was staring at Sora.

"Naminé, you're walking the wrong way," Roxas said as he watched Naminé walking off the other direction. Naminé's gaze instantly stopped. She looked up at Roxas's light blue ones.

"Sorry, I'm off a little, aren't I?" Naminé laughed nervously as she tightened her grip on her sketchbook.

"A little too much," Roxas mumbled. He cast an odd look on Naminé before shifting his book bag to a comfortable position.

The group was soon in the front of the school building. Sora hit the side of the sidewalk with the skateboard.

"Man, Sora's seriously gifted," Roxas said. "That was a good first try for skateboarding, unlike Tidus. I still remember the first time you tried it. You almost got hit by a car."

"Shut up," Tidus said and punched Roxas's shoulder. Yuna giggled, and Selphie smirked. She wrote something in her notebook.

Sora blushed. "I'm not talented…"

"And he's good at the acoustic guitar," Roxas continued to tease Tidus. "Not to mention that he's better than you at math. Wonder if he can beat you at blitzball."

"Oh no!" Tidus said. "Nobody can beat me at blitzball! No one can beat Yuna as a singer, and Selphie as a matchmaker. But how about you, Roxas? You're beatable in every department."

Roxas looked offended. "Hey, I was the champion of skateboarding for five years in a row!"

"But I bet Sora can beat you," Tidus laughed. Roxas glared. Sora slowly edged away from the group, hoping that he wouldn't get caught.

"Porcupine Stalker!" a voice sniggered. Sora turned around. Riku was flipping his coin over and over again in his hand, with the others watching. "I found you at the mall, but here? I surprised your family can even pay to come to a school."

"Shut up, gramps," Tidus said angrily. "He doesn't need to be as rich as you."

"Sit, puppy," Riku said, pointing to the ground. Tidus's glower only deepened. "Besides, I didn't come for another fight with Sora. I've come here to talk to Kairi."

"What?" Selphie asked.

Riku sneered. "None of your business. Now if you excuse Kairi and me…" he grabbed Kairi and dragged her away with the other three juniors.

Sora quickly ran to Dr. Stepper's class, away from Tidus and the others. He opened the door silently so no one would notice him. Too bad it didn't work.

"Sora, how nice to see you again!" Dr. Stepper said. Sora nodded for no reason and sat down in his seat. He looked across where Kairi usually sat. But there was no Kairi there. Just an empty seat.

Everyone else started coming in the door, and then the bell rang. Sora felt a little anxious that Kairi wasn't there. Tidus looked the same.

"Kairi's never late," Tidus said. "And she wouldn't dump school. That's just not her." He shrugged. "Oh well, I'm sure she's okay, and as long as Riku doesn't do anything, I'm fine."

Sora stared at the clock. After thirty minutes passed, Sora asked Dr. Stepper if he could go to the bathroom. He got the excuse and went to see if Kairi was okay. Something just didn't feel right to him.

----

Riku was ridiculously close to Kairi. A little too close. Kairi couldn't go back anymore. Her back hit the blue lockers, and she stood there, feeling Riku's breath on her neck. His fired up aqua eyes were looking into the annoyed blue ones.

"You can't hide from me forever," he whispered. Kairi only frowned more.

"Let go of me," Kairi said. She tried to move her arms, but Riku held them securely.

"I take that as a no?" Riku growled. "You give me something, I ask you out, and you say no?"

Kairi groaned. "I told you, my mom invited a family over at Saturday, and I have to go to the Blitzball competition on Sunday. Maybe some next time!"

"That wasn't the answer I was looking for!" Riku said.

"Hey, you let go of her!"

They both looked to the side.

"Sora!" said Kairi. Riku sneered again.

"Puppy number two," Riku said. "I'm surprised you've got social skills." He let go of Kairi and walked up to Sora. "And from your voice, you want another fight, don't cha?"

"Sora, don't mess with him!" said Kairi. "You'll get in trouble, and –"

"Shut it," said Riku. "This is between Sora and me." He cracked his knuckles and smirked at Sora. He only glared.

"That's my friend you're messing with!" Sora said before blinking. Since when had he go up against Riku, the popular guy who was a head taller than him?

_When did I start talking in public?_ Sora couldn't recall.

"So you do got social skills, you just don't use them, do you?" Riku mocked. "That's still sad in my opinion, porcupine stalker." He threw Sora to the edge whose back hit the lockers, making a loud noise, attracting the classes.

"Oops!" Riku continued mocking. "I'm so sorry! Forgive me!" Kairi couldn't take it anymore and slapped him.

"You're a real jackass, you know!" Kairi said snappily. "and your friends too! I can't believe I'm betrothed to you!" She helped Sora up. "You would have been expelled by now if I was a tattletale. Too bad I'm not." Riku laughed.

"I don't care if I was in trouble. My family can control this whole school if they felt like it. Just a little persuasion would do it." He turned his back to them. "But I guess I could give you guys another chance. Piss me off one more time and –"

"And what?" a voice was heard. The three turned around and found Mrs. Rogers, the calculus teacher looking at them. Riku laughed nervously.

"You see –"

"I saw everything, Mr. Sato," Mrs. Rogers said. "And you'll be going to the principal." She came over to Riku and grabbed his arm. He made one last glare at the other two and walked off with her.

Sora rubbed his arm. "Thanks, Kairi." Kairi couldn't resist and hugged him.

* * *

**Author's Endnote:** Whew! That took a while to write. My arms are aching. I hope you guys enjoyed it, considering that I won't be updating this story for a while because of Kingdom Hearts II coming out and me going to San Francisco. Please review! I'd love suggestions and comments, as long as it's not a flame. 

**Thanks to:** Neko-Neko23, Iridaceae, revengematron3, pink-chaos, A Shorter Name, and all the anonymous reviews!


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